Wednesday's annual Schuylkill County Football Coaches Association Senior All-Star Game was definitely a contrast in styles.

With a roster of big-armed quarterbacks and speedy receivers, the North used a quick-strike offense and a bevy of big plays to defeat the South 35-21 at Rotary Field.

Led by quarterbacks Chris Palubinsky of Shenandoah Valley, Corey Quick of Marian and Patrick Duvigneaud of Jim Thorpe, the North had eight plays of 24 yards or more, including three for touchdowns.

That run-and-gun-type style was enough to outlast a South squad that featured a stable of running backs and a wall of big, strong linemen.

Using a ground-oriented attack, the South rushed for 308 yards in the losing effort with Blue Mountain's Justin Gilfillan (11-144) and Minersville's Chris Murphy (15-109) both running for more than 100 yards.

"We knew we had to pound the ball and they were going to throw the ball," said Gilfillan, who scored a pair of touchdowns and earned the Terry Case South MVP. "It was definitely two different offenses tonight."

North Schuylkill's Ethan Motsney, who was named the Terry Case North MVP, agreed.

"I have to commend them, they had a big, tough team," Motsney said.

"We used a lot of quick drives that helped us score. It takes a load off our linemen."

The annual senior showcase, moved last year to the day before Thanksgiving, had its usual allotment of memorable events and fitting tributes.

Both squads put together funny celebrations after touchdowns, from "bombs" of players all falling down at the same time to entire teams running onto the field and jumping up and down in the end zone. Both teams also put linemen into the backfield on running plays, with North Schuylkill's 305-pound Nick Sanayka carrying once for 2 yards.

Former Shenandoah Valley standout and coach Joe Ruth (North) and former Tri-Valley quarterback Joe Wonchak (South) served as honorary captains, and the SCFCA inducted four members into its Hall of Fame at halftime.

The Class of 2012 included former Panther Valley great Joe Pilconis, former Williams Valley coach Bill Schwalm, former Schuylkill Haven coach John Davis and former Cardinal Brennan coach Bill Kirelawich.

On the field, the North and South traded scores for the first half until the North's big plays were too much for the South to handle.

With the score tied at 14 with 1:25 left in the first half, the North put together a two-play, 35-second drive to take the lead for good. Duvigneaud, who hadn't played to that point, started the drive with a 39-yard draw. On the next play, Duvigneaud drew in the defense and dropped it off on a screen to Motsney, who raced through the South defense for a 24-yard touchdown that put the North up 21-14.

"Coach told me when they put me in we were going to run the QB draw," Duvigneaud said, referring to North coach Nick Sajone of Shenandoah Valley.

"Motsney made a couple of guys miss and had a nice run. I just dumped it off.

"We knew we could score if we did what we had to do. We had confidence in our coaches that the plays we were going to run would work."

The North upped its lead to 28-14 on its first possession of the second half on the exact same play, this time from 25 yards out.

"It was the same play," Motsney said. "I come over from the right side to the left side, I saw a seem and I hit it and scored. There was very good blocking."

The key to the South's success was its blocking up front, as a group of offensive linemen that included Brett Polinsky and Chris Ochenrider of Minersville, Dan Conville, Tucker Smink and Greg Revenis of Pottsville and Schuylkill Haven's Brad Biever continuously cleared big holes for the South running backs to run through.

In addition to Gilfillan and Murphy, Pottsville's Mike Wythe (7-37) and Tri-Valley's Blake Bowman (7-36) also had some key runs. The South ran the ball 45 times and threw it just eight, with only one completion.

"It was nice having the numbers we had with linemen," said South coach Pat Mason of Minersville. "We had some real quality guys up front.

"I thought our best chance to win the game was by using a power style."

In the first half, that strategy worked as a 31-yard run by Gilfillan and a 12-yard run by Murphy offset a 2-yard TD run by the North's Jake Love and a 36-yard bomb from Quick to Jim Thorpe's Mike Harleston.

After Motsney's two touchdowns, however, the South couldn't quite catch up. Gilfillan added a 69-yard TD run in the third quarter, but a fourth-quarter TD run by Palubinsky sealed it for the North.

"I had a really good time coaching this team," Mason said. "It was a great group of kids, and exciting group.

"This was a good game. It was a high-scoring affair and that was fun for the fans, fun for the players, fun for everybody."

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